We’re All Starting To Get Really Pissed Off

Don’t Know About You But I Can Feel The Angry

Like most of you, I’m granted by virtue of my membership dues, the glorious opportunity to read a lot of articles from some top-shelf writers on this platform. I’ve had the luxury of reading some excellent observations, gotten sneak peeks into the innermost thoughts of other writers, and read some titillating reveals I would have never imagined.

But lately, what I’m reading from a lot of writers has me a little concerned, especially when I compare what they’re writing to what I’ve been thinking for the last several days.

We’re all starting to get really pissed off.

We’re pissed with the delays in curation or no curation notifications. To their credit, it’s not the editors’ fault. H*ll, we outnumber them probably two or three thousand to one. Maybe even more than that.

I, for one, don’t know how they do it without tearing their hair out.

Most of them are probably wearing hairpieces and wigs, I bet.

I’m just sayin’

But we often forget that little bit and find other things to get pissy about. Don’t get me wrong. A lot of them seem to be legitimate concerns.

We’re pissed that the recent significant Al changes haven’t with any consistency allowed us to click and read our favs who used to show up in our network.

We’re pissed because the home page is cluttered with editor’s picks and so-called popular articles a lot of times we care absolutely nothing about.

Where the h*ll are all the writers we used to read daily?

We’re pissed because if we read series fiction pieces, we actually have to search for the writer to discover and read the next section. Why? Because it’s only by the grace of Al that we actually receive routine notifications.

No, the recent change doesn’t always feature the writer’s new article on the home page. It may take a week, sometimes longer, for the writer’s story to pop up.

If ever.

We’re pissed with the fact the payout changes seem to not only punish the poets, the short-piece humor writers, and the micro-story writers but they now seem to be impacting the lot of us.

Even heavy hitters on this platform are making a note of it.

We’re pissed because lately, this month specifically, a lot of us have taken a frightful “read” tumble. Where before, we were holding pretty steady at triple-digit reads, now we’re lucky as h*ll to get half of that.

And since reads are the money shots these days, we’re pissed to discover most of us are working at far below today’s minimum wage to write our stories.

Try .33 cents an hour or less than three dollars a day.

Check this if you wish, but in 1930 the average annual income in the US was $1,368.00. That’s about $114.00 per month, somewhere in the neighborhood of .71 cents per hour or $5.70 per day. In 1930 people were making almost three bucks a day more than a lot of us.

Ninety years ago the average worker bee was making more each day than a lot of us do writing on this platform.

Ninety f*cking years ago.

And we’re pissed about it.

I’ve noticed a few writers who have taken a step back and chosen to ply their wares elsewhere. Not content to deal with the constant frustrating grind they’ve broken ranks.

Those who haven’t continue sending their intentions like shots across the bow to anyone who’ll take notice. They’re tired of this sh*t, and although they love it here, they just can’t continue to suffer these hits to their egos and their pocketbooks.

They’re pissed and telling us enough is simply fu*king enough.

Am I pissed? You bet I am.

Are the changes impacting me? You bet they are. Oh, holy God/Goddess in heaven they are.

Am I making good money here? You’re kidding, right?

Am I putting this platform behind me and looking for other pastures to graze? Oh, h*ll no.

Although things on this platform aren’t perfect, I believe this community of writers is the best place in the world to be. You show me something, anything better than here, and I will take it under advisement, but I have no intention of leaving anytime soon.

I’m about to celebrate an anniversary on this platform, folks. Next month it will be one solid year that I decided to go all-in and write and post daily. Checking out now would be like quitting a job one day before the retirement pension is supposed to kick in.

How f*cking crazy would that be?

Call me foolish, brand me as a stubborn a*shole who refuses to quit, or tell me I’m just plain stupid for banging my head against this wall each and every day.

I won’t listen to you. Wait, check that.

I will listen to you, but I will ignore what you tell me, keep my eyes on the prize and continue hammering out pieces each day.

But that sure as h*ll don’t mean I ain’t just as pissed off about all this sh*t as you are.

Every day I, just like a lot of writers on this platform, get pissed off and stay pissed off feeling the pangs of righteous indignation churning in my belly…and then I write.

But remember this, sports fans.

And I’ve said this before. This ball we’re all playing with doesn’t belong to us, and we don’t make the rules. But we all have a choice. We can play by the guidelines of the game, or we can find another game to play.

Easy peasy decision making 101.

For me, I’m going to stick around and play. Therefore I will continue to pay my dues, follow the rules and guidelines and write; just f*cking write.

In my humble opinion, this platform isn’t just a place where you can write and publish and put a little chump change (Or a lot for some. Do you want to adopt my wife and me?) in your coffer.

This is a ginormous family of independently free thinkers with extraordinary talents for using their words to fight their demons, heal their own and other’s wounds, punish the guilty and uplift the downtrodden.

I feel genuinely blessed to be a part of this family.

Yeah, I’m pissed about a lot of the changes, and though many of you may feel the same way I do about all the writers here for the rest I’m sorry/not sorry.

A lot of us are pissed off right now. I don’t know about you, but I can sense the angry when I read. But hey, you all are my writing family. And we don’t always come out of the chute blowing unicorns and rainbows out our butts.

The bigger the family, the more likely it is there will be somebody getting pissed at something or someone each day.

It’s what families do.

Let’s keep in touch: [email protected]

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